Press Release

Data Shows Big Government Policies Failing Hispanics

(Washington, D.C.) –The LIBRE Initiative today released a report intended to guide lawmakers in evaluating President Obama’s fiscal year 2017 budget, which he submitted to Congress last week. The memo highlights how Hispanics continue to suffer from a lack of progress on the issues they most care about. In spite of expansive new federal programs and the addition of about $10 trillion in debt, federal policies that grow government continue to leave the Hispanic community behind.

Under President Obama, the federal debt will nearly double – to almost $20 trillion – a burden that will fall disproportionately on Hispanics, nearly half of whom are millennials.

Median household income for Hispanics has been essentially stagnant during the recovery, and only just recently returned to pre-recession levels.

A failure to enact legislative immigration reform leaves 5 million immigrants with no resolution for their undocumented status; those covered through executive action have only temporary – and uncertain -- relief.

Young and healthy Hispanics disproportionately bear the cost of the health care reform law, while seeing premiums and deductibles rise.

Hispanics continue to lag behind the rest of the country in college completion rates, even as tuition and student debt continue to rise.

Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative, released the following statement:

“The Hispanic community is a critical part of America’s success. Each day we play a greater role in the economy, and in our political leadership. Nevertheless, in yielding to federal policies and programs that rely on the power of the state, over the individual - with promises of improved well-being and increased opportunities in the private sector - we are left with greater debt, lower wages, and potentially a reduced standard of living and a diminished private sector for our children and grandchildren. We can no longer acquiesce to those who seek to double down on these failed policies that have only served to hold back minority communities – especially to those who pursue a big government agenda on a much grander scale of magnitude. Lawmakers need to recognize where the agenda of the last seven years has failed us, and take a new approach.”